Floating docks frequently are maintained in place with the aid of one or more piles driven into a seabed where the dock is located. Ropes or other similar structures frequently secure the docks to the piles. Sometimes, old tires serve as buffers between the piles and docks.
This typical prior art structure, although frequently used, has numerous deficiencies. For example, the ropes and tires must be replaced often. More importantly, the dock moves up and down with wave action of a body of water where the dock is floating, causing the dock frequently to be unstable with respect to the pile.
Many docks are now formed by buoyant module structures that are made in a factory and transported to a dock site, where the modules are connected together to form the dock. To our knowledge, little attention has been paid to securing such docks to a pile. The same prior art structures which have been used for years, as described above, have generally been employed to secure docks formed of buoyant modular structures to a pile. Because of the numerous advantages associated with modular docks, it is advantageous to provide a buoyant modular structure for a dock with provisions for enabling the entire dock to be stably secured to a pile.
We are aware of prior art patents disclosing various arrangements for connecting buoyant modules of floating docks to piles. To our knowledge, none of the structures disclosed in the prior art patents have been commercialized.
Usab, U.S. Pat. No. 3,091,203, discloses a floating dock including a metal plate attached to one end of a buoyant module. The plate includes a tube having an inner diameter slightly in excess of the outer diameter of a pile. The plate is fit over the pile or the pile is sunk and built around the tube. As the floating module and the deck of which it is a part move up and down in response to wave action, the tube inner wall and the pile outer diameter contact each other, likely causing substantial wear of both parts.
Finn, U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,780, discloses a metal frame having an opening with a square cross section having side walls carrying rollers for engaging a pile having a square cross section, corresponding generally in size with the opening in the frame. The frame is mounted on an outboard portion of a buoyant module included in a floating deck. The Finn arrangement requires different frames for piles having different areas. In addition, as the dock rises and falls due to wave and tidal action, a substantial amount of torque can be exerted by the frame on the module to which the frame is connected. Consequently, it appears that the frame has a tendency to become loosened from the buoyant module to which it is attached and the dock has a tendency to be unstable as a result of wave action.
Thompson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,307, discloses a frame with a square cross section at the end of a finger pier formed by numerous buoyant modules. Rollers mounted on a side wall arrangement of the frame engage a cylindrical exterior wall of the pile. A problem with the structure disclosed in the Thompson patent is that different size frames must be employed for piles having different diameters. In addition, the frame does not appear to have any substantial depth and is apparently merely a metal plate mounted as an appendage on one end of a float module having a lower portion filled with cellular material. A dock including the structure disclosed by the Thompson patent would apparently have a tendency to float unstably in response to wave action.
Jung, U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,362, discloses a floating concrete dock including a finger pier having at one end thereof an opening for receiving a pile. In addition, a triangular web connecting the finger pier to a main pier includes a similar opening. Jung states that a cylindrical bore which functions as a guide on the pier for the piles can extend throughout the thickness of a header or a finger deck portion. However, Jung provides no details as to how these structures are achieved.
It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved floating dock with provisions for securing the dock to one or more piles.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved buoyant wharf module having provisions for accepting a pile.
A further object of the invention is to provide a new and improved buoyant wharf module arranged to provide a great amount of stability to a floating dock with which the module is associated.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a new and improved buoyant wharf module having provisions for accepting cylindrical piles having different diameters.